Judicial invalidation of unconscionable standard form employment contracts

Constitutional Courts possess the clear authority to strike down unfair, unreasonable, and unconscionable terms contained in standard form contracts entered into between parties who possess wholly disproportionate bargaining power. An unemployed job seeker or temporary worker seeking a basic livelihood stands in a vastly inferior bargaining position vis-a-vis the overwhelming authority and resource power of the State machinery. Where a worker has no meaningful choice or real negotiating strength but to sign on the dotted line in a prescribed standard form to obtain employment, such unconscionable contractual clauses barring future claims for regularization are contrary to public policy and unenforceable under the law. (Bhola Nath v. The State of Jharkhand | 2026 INSC 99)